Package for sheet material articles

ABSTRACT

An article-holding device of the type used to hold sheet material articles of purposes such as storage, display or the like. The device includes a container in which a plurality of the articles are accommodated. The sheet material articles include greeting cards and envelopes therefor, in stacked relationship, with the cards and envelopes positioned in two distinct sets. The container has an open top normally closed by a transparent lid which is seated on the container. A hinge consisting in its entirety of a flexible sheet material connects the lid to the container for swinging movement with respect thereto between positions covering and uncovering the open top of the container. This hinge has imprinted thereon a replica of the envelopes positioned beneath the set of greeting cards in the container. In this manner, while a viewer can see the type of cards through the transparent lid, he will also be able to ascertain the nature of the envelopes.

United States Patent Dash [ 5] Mar. 14, 1972 [54] PACKAGE FOR SHEETMATERIAL ARTICLES [72} Inventor: Martin Dafli, New York, N.Y.

[73] Assignee: American Artists Group, Inc.

22 Filed: May 20, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 39,949

[52] US. Cl. ..206/45.3l, 40/312, 206/46 SY, 206/63, 206/DIG. 27,206/DIG. 29, 229/44 R [51 Int. Cl. ..B65d 5/66, 865d 25/00 Field ofSearch ..40/312; 206/4531, 45 34, 46 CT, 206/46 SY, 63, DIG. 22, DIG.27, DIG. 29; 220/31 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,101,199 10/1955France ..206/DIG. 22

Primary Examiner-Joseph R. Leclair Assistant ExaminerSteven E. LipmanAttorney-Blum, Moscovitz, Friedman 8!. Kaplan [57] ABSTRACT Anarticle-holding device of the type used to hold sheet material articlesof purposes such as storage, display or the like. The device includes acontainer in which a plurality of the articles are accommodated. Thesheet material articles include greeting cards and envelopes therefor,in stacked relationship, with the cards and envelopes positioned in twodistinct sets. The container has an open top normally closed by atransparent lid which is seated on the container. A hinge consisting inits entirety of a flexible sheet material connects the lid to thecontainer for swinging movement with respect thereto between positionscovering and uncovering the open top of the container. This hinge hasimprinted thereon a replica of the envelopes positioned beneath the setof greeting cards in the container. In this manner, while a viewer cansee the type of cards through the transparent lid, he will also be 7able to ascertain the nature of the envelopes.

5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEUMAR 14 I972 I 3,648,833

v lNVICN'l'U/C. l5 MARTIN DASH ATTORNEYS PACKAGE FOR SHEET MATERIALARTICLES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates toarticle-holding devices.

Thus, the present invention relates to devices for holding articleseither for purposes of storage, for purposes of display, or the like.

For example, it is conventional to situate articles such as Christmascards or other decorative cards, together with their envelopes, within asuitable container which normally is covered by a lid. This lid may betransparent so that the articles within the container are visiblethrough the lid. However, when a prospective purchaser, for example,sees a card such as a Christmas card through the lid, the nature of theenvelope is not apparent because it is covered by the card. The resultis that a prospective purchaser will disturb the contents in thecontainer, upsetting the order in which the articles are stored therein,and perhaps misplacing or losing the envelopes and creating difficultieswith respect to matching the proper envelopes to the proper cards.

In addition, when the lid of a given container is removed therefrom, itcan easily become lost since it is usually placed to the side and can becovered by other articles, or it may fall on the floor and be sweptaway. It may also, be placed on an incorrect container. 7

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of theinvention to provide a device of the above general type which will avoidthe above drawbacks.

In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide for adevice of the above type a construction which will prevent the lid frombecoming lost from the container which it normally covers.

In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide aconstruction of this type which is exceedingly simple and inexpensiveand which at the same time hardly increases the space occupied by thedevice.

Furthermore, it is an object of the invention to provide for a device ofthis type a construction which will enable a viewer of the device to seefrom the exterior thereof the nature of the contents of the containereven though these contents are not visible, as through a transparentlid.

According to the invention the device includes a container for thearticles, this container having an open top. A lid has a closed positionseated on the container to close the open top thereof, and of coursethis lid can move from its closed position to an open positionuncovering the open top of the container. A hinge means of the inventionconnects the lid to the container for swinging movement with respectthereto between the closed and open positions of the lid. Thisparticular hinge means of the invention has a construction according towhich it consists in its entirety of a flexible sheet material. Thus,the hinge means of the invention preferably takes the form of a sectionof sheet material such as paper which adheres both to the lid and to thecontainer so as to connect the lid to the container for swingingmovement with respect thereto. Moreover this hinge means can haveimprinted thereon a replica of an envelope disclosing the nature and thecolor thereof, for example, so that even if such envelope is notvisible, as through the transparent lid of the container, neverthelessthe nature of the envelope is apparent from the exterior of thecontainer, thus avoiding the requirement of disturbing the contents inorder to determine the nature of the envelopes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated by way ofexample in the accompanying drawings which form part of this applicationand in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustration of a device according to theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation, taken along line 2-2 ofFIG. 1 in the direction of the arrows, and showing fragmentarily, at ascale which is enlarged as compared to FIG. 1, the details of the mannerin which the lid is hinged to the container and swingable with respectthereto; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary transverse sectional elevation, at the samescale as FIG. 2, illustrating further details of the structure.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1shows a device 10 having the structure of the invention. This deviceincludes a container 12 which may, for example, be any suitable box madeof cardboard or other relatively heavy sheet material. This container 12is of a generally rectangular configuration and it has an open top.Thus, the container 12 has side walls 14 and end pend into overlappingrelation with the exterior surfaces of the side walls 14 and end walls16 of the container 12, as is apparent from the drawings. This is theclosed position of the lid 24, and in its closed position it covers theopen top of the container 12. In order to have access to the contents ofthe container 12 the lid 24 is removed from its closed position so as touncover the open top of the container. The lid 24 may be made of atransparent sheet material so that a Christmas card 20 may be seentherethrough, as is apparent from FIG. 1 where a replica of a Christmastree is indicated as being visible through the transparent lid 24.

According to the invention, a hinge means 32 interconnects the lid 24with the container 12. This hinge means 32 provides between the lid 24and the container 12 a connection enabling the lid 24 to be swung awayfrom its closed position to an open position uncovering the open top ofthe container 12, as is apparent from the upper left portion of FIG. 2,and, of course, the lid can as easily be returned to its closedposition.

According to the invention, this hinge means consists in its entirety ofa flexible sheet material. In the illustrated example, it takes the formof a section of paper 34 having a front vertical region 36 adhering tothe front end walls 16 as by being glued thereto. The upper region 38 ofthe sheet 34 is adhered to the exterior surface of the lid 24 to providethe hinge connectlon.

However, in addition, the sheet material section 34 has a portion 40extending over the upper surface of the wall 26 of lid 24 and havingimprinted thereon a designation 42 of the nature of the envelopes in theinterior of the container. Thus, the designation 42 imprinted on theregion 40 of the sheet 34 will have a color corresponding to the colorof the envelopes and will indicate the construction of the flap at therear of the envelope so as to enable any prospective purchaser toidentify the envelopes 22 even though they are not visible. The region40 of the sheet 34 is also adhered to the upper surface of the lid as bybeing glued thereto.

It will be noted that with this exceedingly simple structure of theinvention, the sheet material which forms the entire hinge means notonly provides an effective interconnection of the lid and container,preventing it from becoming lost without inhibiting the opening andclosing of the container, but in addition, it hardly increases thevolume occupied by the entire device so that storage of a number of thedevices in a given space is not materially influenced with the hingemeans 32 of the invention. Furthermore, by providing on the hinge meansa designation such as the designation 42, the requirement of seeking outarticles buried within the interior of the container is eliminated.Thus, with this construction of the invention several problems aresolved without detracting in any way from the manner in which the deviceis normally used.

What is claimed is:

l. A device for holding a plurality of articles for purposes such asstorage or display, comprising a container for the plurality ofarticles, said container having an open top, a lid for closing the opentop of the container, said lid being removably carried by saidcontainer, and hinge means connecting said lid to said container forswinging movement with respect thereto between an open positionuncovering the top of the container and a closed position closing thetop of the container, said hinge means consisting in its entirety of aflexible sheet material, so that while through said hinge means said lidis freely movable to and from a position closing the container at thesame time said lid will not become separated from said container, saidplurality of articles being positioned in a stack in said container andincluding at least a first and second set of different sheet materialarticles, said first set of articles having indicia imprinted thereon,said lid being made of a transparent sheet material, at least one sheetmaterial article of said first set being visible through said lid, thesheet material of said hinge means having imprinted thereon a replica ofa sheet material article of said second set situated within thecontainer but not visible through said lid so that the nature of thesecond set of articles which cannot be seen can be determined by viewingsaid hinge means.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said hinge means is in theform of a strip of flexible sheet material adhering to the lid and tothe container.

3. The combination of claim 2 and wherein said hinge is made of paper.

4. A device as recited in claim 1 and wherein the sheet material of saidhinge means is in the form of a section of paper adhering to the lid andcontainer and having a portion extending over an upper surface of saidlid when the latter is in its closed position, said portion of saidsheet material of said hinge means having thereon said replica of thesecond set of sheet material articles in the interior of the container.

5. A device as recited in claim 1, said first set of sheet materialarticles being Christmas cards and s said second set of sheet materialarticles being envelopes therefor.

1. A device for holding a plurality of articles for purposes such asstorage or display, comprising a container for the plurality ofarticles, said container having an open top, a lid for closing the opentop of the container, said lid being removably carried by saidcontainer, and hinge means connecting said lid to said container forswinging movement with respect thereto between an open positionuncovering the top of the container and a closed position closing thetop of the container, said hinge means consisting in its entirety of aflexible sheet material, so that while through said hinge means said lidis freely movable to and from a position closing the container at thesame time said lid will not become separated from said container, saidplurality of articles being positioned in a stack in said container andincluding at least a first and second set of different sheet materialarticles, said first set of articles having indicia imprinted thereon,said lid being made of a transparent sheet material, at least one sheetmaterial article of said first set being visible through said lid, thesheet material of said hinge means having imprinted thereon a replica ofa sheet material article of said second set situated within thecontainer but not visible through said lid so that the nature of thesecond set of articles which cannot be seen can be determined by viewingsaid hinge means.
 2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said hingemeans is in the form of a strip of flexible sheet material adhering tothe lid and to the container.
 3. The combination of claim 2 and whereinsaid hinge means is made of paper.
 4. A device as recited in claim 1 andwherein the sheet material of said hinge means is in the form of asection of paper adhering to the lid and container and having a portionextending over an upper surface of said lid when the latter is in itsclosed position, said portion of said sheet material of said hinge meanshaving thereon said replica of the second set of sheet material articlesin the interior of the container.
 5. A device as recited in claim 1,said first set of sheet material articles being Christmas cards and saidsecond set of sheet material articles being eNvelopes therefor.